


The Cheater

by Kyuubiluver342



Series: The Many Times Seto Kaiba Was In Debt To Joey Wheeler [16]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 06:12:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17595947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyuubiluver342/pseuds/Kyuubiluver342
Summary: Seto and Mokuba meet a new duelist and they want to test his skills against Joey's, but someone doesn't like that idea. Can Joey prove himself?





	The Cheater

 

Seto and Mokuba looked over the arena one last time and were pleased. Everything was set up just how they wanted it. It had been a few weeks in the making, but if the Kaiba brothers knew anything, it was how to make a scene. Hopefully, all the hard work would pay off today.

“Mr. Kaiba, Mr. Wheeler is here.” Roland said with a bow and Seto nodded.

“Are the guests here yet?” he asked and Roland shook his head.

“Not yet, but I have an ETA. They have a few minutes out. I sent Mr. Wheeler up the back elevator.” Roland said.

“Fine, I’ll go talk to him. Mokuba, you stay here and greet our guests if they get here before I get back.” Seto commanded as he walked off.

He came to the back elevator just as the doors opened. Joey was standing there, a simple blue t-shirt and jeans. Seto scowled and crossed his arms.

“You’re late.” he stated coldly.

“I’m sorry. I got stuck at my last job.” Joey said with a wince.

“You are lucky they are late too.” Seto said.

Joey just rolled his eyes and followed Seto back to the main arena. They got there just as the door opened to reveal two men. One was an older man with white hair, a white goatee and a bluetooth in one ear. He wore a long white coat with no sleeves. The man next to him was much year, maybe early twenties with dark hair. He wore a dragon ear cuff and a short sleeved jacket with fingerless gloves.

“Mr. Kaiba! And Mr. Kaiba! What a pleasure to meet you both! I’m John Beachner from the Beachner Duelist Academy and this is my duelist, Jason Wright. The one I was telling you about over the phone.” the older man said with delight.

“Mr. Beachner, it is a pleasure to meet you as well.” Seto said as they shook hands, thought John did it with much more enthusiasm.

The man then shook Mokuba’s hand, but straight out ignored Joey, walking right past him as if he weren’t even there. He held out his arms, looking over the arena with glee. Jason gave Joey a small smile and a wave. At least he had some manners.

“And my, look at this arena as well! Top of the line, as expected!” the man exclaimed.

Joey just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. He seemed bored with the whole thing already. Mokuba coughed and caught the man’s attention, hoping to keep everything on track still, despite both sides running late.

“Of course. We only do top of the line duels after all. Now, we would like to get started if that works for you?” Mokuba asked.

“Absolutely! Jason and I have been looking forward to this duel for weeks!” the man said sweetly. 

Once again walking right past Joey, he clapped his hands together and grinned with delight. He seemed overly enthusiastic if you asked Mokuba, but then again, this could help his school finally make it to the big leagues.

“Now, the duel between Joey and Jason will…” Mokuba started, only to be cut off.

“Ah, I apologize, but did you say ‘Joey and Jason’?” John asked with a twitch.

“Yes…?” Mokuba glanced at Seto, who looked just as confused.

“I apologize, but we were under the impression Jason would be dueling Mr. Kaiba today, not…” he glanced over at Joey and looked him up and down with disgust.

“Anyone less than that.” he finished.

Joey growled a little while Mokuba frowned. This was not off to a good start at all. He clearly didn’t think highly of Joey. 

“We were under the impression that Kaiba Corp was picking the duelist for today’s duel. My brother and I are going to be judging Mr. Wright on his performance today to see if he is a fit for Kaiba Corp. I can’t do that if I am dueling him.” Seto explained calmly.

“I’m gonna run to the men’s room.” Joey whispered to Mokuba, who nodded and smiled.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get this cleared up.” Mokuba whispered.

Joey just walked off with a wave and Mokuba sighed. Mokuba hated that there were still some people who looked down on Joey, but there was nothing they could do about it. 

“I see…” John trailed off after Seto was done, looking quite displeased with the whole thing.

Jason just looked nervous, he kept fiddling with his ear cuff. Mokuba was getting the feeling the kid really did not want to be here, which was odd.

“If you don’t wish to duel today, I am sure we can figure something else out, but dueling Seto is out of the question. Mr. Wright has shown some promise in his past duels, but nowhere near the league to compete with Seto.” Mokuba said coldly.

“Can we have a moment? Privately?” John said quickly and the brothers noded.

The two men moved away and started to whisper between themselves. Well, mostly John whispered to Jason while Jason nodded.

“I don’t like him.” Mokuba muttered, watching them.

“I don’t either, but Mr. Wright has shown some promise.” Seto muttered back as they sat down nearby.

“His last duel was quite amazing. I heard about it from a few different people.” Mokuba muttered softly.

Jason came out of seemingly nowhere a few weeks ago. He had crushed everyone he came across, wiped the floor with some of the best duelists right now. When his headmaster reached out to the brothers and showed them some videos of Jason dueling at various tournaments and winning, they had set this whole thing up to see Jason go head to head with a real duelist.

“But, does he show enough promise to put up with that guy for the next twenty years?” Mokuba said and they both winced.

“We will just have to wait and see.” Seto muttered.

Mokuba frowned and got up. He stretched a bit and then sighed.

“I’m gonna go check on Joey.” Mokuba muttered before walking away.

 

Meanwhile, Joey sat in a stall and tried not to punch something. He had walked away to get some air, just to get away from the scene that was happening before his eyes. He was used to being looked down on, used to being treated like crap, so why did this guy get under his skin so much? Joey rubbed his eyes and was about to leave when the door opened.

“Joey?” Mokuba called and Joey walked out of the stall.

“What’s up, kid? The duel starting soon?” Joey asked as he washed his hands.

“Yeah, but I wanted to be sure you were alright.” Mokuba said, leaning against a stall door.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me ok?” he said and Mokuba frowned, but let it go. 

He left soon afterwards and Joey sighed, feeling tired already. Joey shrugged his shoulders, trying to get the stiffness out, and was about to leave when he heard voices coming down the hall.

“I cannot believe this! Who do those two think they are! Making a fool out of us this way!” a familiar voice hissed.

Joey frowned before ducking into a stall. The door opened just then and the duelist peeked through the crack to see John and Jason standing in the bathroom. Jason looked very nervous and uncertain while John looked pissed to holy hell.

“The absolute nerve! To have us come all the way out here for this! It’s a joke!” John raged.

Joey pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit record. There was something about this that didn’t seem right.

“Sir, are you sure we can do this? I thought my deck was set up to fight Seto Kaiba’s deck? How am I supposed to beat Joey?” Jason asked softly.

“Of course we can and we will! Listen, we did not come all this way to lose to some third-rate duelist.” the man snarled.

The boy shrink back a bit, he didn’t seem very confident at all. John noticed this and smiled, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“Jason, my boy, don’t worry about it. Your deck is set up to win no matter what. As long as you listen to my directions, we will have this duel in the bag.” he said rubbing the boy’s arm.

He looked highly uncomfortable and Joey felt rage build in his chest. He knew that look, that was the look of someone who knew he was doing wrong, but couldn’t do anything to stop it. He also didn’t like to look in John’s eyes either, like a predator watching his prey. There was more to this than what Joey was seeing.

“Are you sure?” Jason asked again.

“Just keep the ear cuff on and we’ll finish this duel in no time. That stupid mutt won’t know what hit him.” John reassured.

“But what if something goes wrong?” he asked.

“As long as I am behind him and I can see his cards, everything will be fine. No one has to know, remember? It’s our little secret.” John said sweetly.

They left soon after and Joey stepped out of the stall. He thought about it for a moment before looking at his phone. He slid it into his pocket and left the restroom.

 

A few minutes later, Joey walked back into the arena. Seto looked highly annoyed and Mokuba looked concerned, but neither said anything. Mokuba whispered into Seto’s ear, and Joey watched as the emotions flashed across his face before it went blank. He straightened up and coughed to get everyone’s attention.

“We are getting started soon. Everyone in their places.” Seto commanded.

Joey and Jason got on the platforms and rose into the air while Seto, Mokuba and John moved to sit behind Joey.

“Mr. Beachner, I assumed you wanted to sit behind your duelist?” Mokuba asked calmly.

“Well, I just like to see from a different view. That way I can see Jason’s face as he duels.” he replied pleasantly.

Mokuba wanted to hit him. The duel soon started and Mokuba grit his teeth as he watched it begin. He listened as John muttered to himself throughout the whole duel. How rude this man was for sitting there, on his phone, while his duelist dueled! The nerve of some people! The brothers glanced at each other and scowled. Yet, Mokuba also couldn’t understand what they were seeing.

The duel was a long, gruelling one. Joey often seemed down for the count, which made no sense to either brother. It was like Jason had a counter for everything Joey tried to do, but more than once pulled himself back up with a single card or trick. John was obviously getting frustrated because more than once he got up and moved seats. Mokuba glanced back at him as he moved for the third time in five minutes.

“Is something wrong, Mr. Beachner?” Mokuba asked annoyed.

“Ah, no! Mr. Wheeler just keeps shifting and I can’t seem to get a good look at Jason.” he replied nervously.

“You know what your duelist looks like. So sit down and stop it or I will have you moved to the other side.” Seto commanded.

John grit his teeth and sat back down. Pleased they got that handled, Mokuba turned back to the duel. It happened then, Joey gave a smirk over his shoulder and with a quick swipe of his hand, he summoned his best card. As the Red Eyes Black Dragon graced the field, it was clear Jason had no idea what to do.

“Red Eyes, finish this duel! Attack now!” Joey yelled.

With one final blast, the duel was over. John sat, gobsmacked in the seat while the platforms lowered the duelists. Jason hopped off and looked very upset, tears in his eyes when he went to shake Joey’s hand.

“Great deal, kid. You had me there a few times.” Joey said calmly.

“What is this nonsense!” John roared suddenly, making Jason jump.

“Is something wrong, Mr. Beachner?” Mokuba asked.

“Yes, something is very wrong! This duel is a sham! There is no way that, that third-rate wannabe was actually able to beat my Jason!” the man roared pointing at Joey.

Joey crossed his arms and scowled. His face was slowly turning red. 

“And how would you know that? Joey’s been around for a lot longer than your Jason.” Mokuba replied coldly.

“Because he just couldn’t have! I refuse to believe it!” John snapped back.

Joey stepped forward then. His face was red with anger, but his voice was cold as ice.

“Oh yeah? And what makes you think your duelist can beat me?” Joey demanded.

“Because I was helping him!” he roared only to paused and pale dramatically.

“And what, exactly, does that mean, Mr. Beachner?” Seto demanded coldly.

“I umm well….” he stumbled over his words.

“You cheated.” Joey replied simply.

“Excuse me! How dare you!” John raged.

Joey just pulled out his phone and pressed play. They all listened to the recording of John and Jason in the bathroom and Seto looked about ready to kill. Mokuba and Seto glared at John, who shrunk back under their cold looks.

“Mr. Beachner, what I just heard is an absolute insult to the dueling community and the sport as a whole. You have wasted my time, energy and money and I promise you, you will pay dearly for it.” Seto said coldly.

Jason hiccuped, looking horrified and terrified. Joey felt sympathy for the young man and reached out. Gently, he removed the ear cuff to reveal a small speaker on the other side. They watched as Jason’s shoulders slumped and he bowed his head. 

“Mr. Wright, I am assuming you knew exactly what you were doing when you agreed to this as well?” Seto demanded and the young man nodded.

Joey sighed loudly and pat Jason on the head. Joey seemed to have some sort of sympathy for the kid.

“But you didn’t want to do it, right kid?” Joey asked and Jason shook his head.

“He made me do it. I couldn’t pay for my tuition for my last year and he told me if I helped him out a little, he would overlook it. I didn’t know it would go this far.” Jason admitted.

“Mr. Kaiba, he’s lying! I wanted nothing to do with this, he forced me into it!” John panicked.

“Mr. Beachner, you have wasted my time and now you want to throw one of your duelists under the bus for your lies? Roland, remove Mr. Beachner and call the police. I am not going to listen to this anymore.” Seto demanded.

“Mr. Kaiba, please!” John yelled as he was grabbed.

“Absolutely not! You will be lucky if we don’t sue you for all you are worth. Well, if there is anything left of you. I’m sure all the dueling tournaments Jason won would love to know about this.” Mokuba stated coldly.

Jason watched as John was grabbed and winced. When one guard reached for him, he flinched away and Joey quickly caught the guard’s arm.

“Mr. Wheeler.” the guard said.

“Back off. He’s staying here with me.” Joey demanded.

The guard looked at Seto, who nodded and then backed off. Seto walked over with his arms crossed.

“Feeling protective, Mutt?” Seto asked.

Joey ignored him and turned to Jason. He idly held out the ear cuff and Jason frowned.

“Sometimes, you do things you don’t want to in order to get to where you want to go.” Joey said.

Jason glanced at him, eyes locking. He seemed to realize Joey was trying to tell him something.

“You agreed to help him, despite knowing it was wrong, but you didn’t stop him either, even when you realized it was going too far.” Joey stated.

Jason nodded slowly, looking ashamed.

“I’m guessing there is more to this story than just tuition. So I am gonna suggest one thing: when the police get here, tell them everything.” Joey said.

Jason swallowed and nodded. Roland came over and Joey let Jason be led away just then, Roland taking the ear cuff as well. Joey watched them go and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Seto walked over then and frowned.

“Why did you agree to the duel if you knew they were cheating?” Seto demanded.

“First, because I was already here and you guys spent a lot of money on these things, so I didn’t want to waste it. Second, because I wanted to prove I am just as good as you and Yugi at dueling. That I will win even if someone cheats.” Joey said simply.

“And if you lost?” Seto asked.

“Then I expose them anyway.” Joey said with a shrug.

It was clever and devious and Seto felt his heart jump a little bit. How was it that Joey managed to surprise him more and more each day?

“Rather clever plan, for you anyway.” Seto muttered.

“I’ll take the backhanded compliment.” Joey smirked.

Joey glanced outside to see the police pull up. A part of him felt sad to watch Jason be led out to the car, but there was a vicious pleasure at watching John being dragged out in handcuffs, screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs.

“What are you going to do with him?” Joey asked.

“Mostly likely, we’ll just sue him. He’ll probably be hit with all sorts of lawsuits by the various tournaments he conned.” Seto stated as Mokuba walked over.

“And Jason?” Joey asked.

“Hard to tell. He could be banned for life. Kaiba Corp certainly won’t pick him up.” Mokuba muttered.

“We’ll see, of course. If they can prove he was forced, we could make an exception.” Seto stated.

Mokuba glanced over at Seto, startled, but he could also see Joey smiling. Mokuba just shook his head and sighed. Love made people do odd things.

 


End file.
